2 – Watchmen (2009)

It seems that every time we turn around these days we see a new massively hyped film targeted to the young male/comic book fans/”nerds”. In recent memory there have been Cloverfield (which was succesful largely due to a huge internet ad blitz), Iron Man,The Dark Knight,The Incredible Hulk, etc etc. And now we have… Watchmen.

Now I personally have not read the book. Had I done so (I am told) I would most likely have joined in the hype myself. The trailers were very good, and the tone promised was very interesting. The idea of superheroes treated as flawed, even down right bad people peeked my interest.

And then I saw the movie.

Now don’t get me wrong, alot of it was good. Some of it was even awesome. (What comes to my mind first is the opening sequence where the Comedian is killed. You can rarely go wrong with slow motion carnage set to a melancholy 30’s jazz tune.) But some of it was pretty bad. One of the big things for me was Dr. Manhattan. And no, I’m not complaining about the rather nonchalant treatment of his nakedness. I thought that was done in a rather mature manner. It was his lines that were horrible. The first scene we see him in is absolute cringe-inducing, he rants and randomly extends into a treatise on life and the nature of the universe that make him sound like some 2 bit yoga instructor. The scene essentially is “Hi Dr. Manhattan.” “Hello.” “How DO you see the universe?” “The universe my dear is an extended psycho bable-babble babble babble…..” he drones on, the meantime the other character looks absolutly awed by this man she has known for years, as if he is totally new to her.

Then towards the end of the movie he essentially dooms the human race through his disinterest in their affairs, and ships his bags and moves to Mars. Silk Spectre tries to convince him to save Earth. He says no. Then she slams her hands into a massive glass sculpture he created. It cracks and shatters, and ALL OF A SUDDEN he does an utter about face, a total 180 degree turn, and starts spouting philosophically about how he realizes (in the 10 seconds it took for her to destroy his sculpture, apparently) that humanity is amazing, blablabla, that she is amazing, blablabla. It didn’t feel real to me, not in the slightest.

I’m not even going to talk about the sex scene. Set to Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. Enough said.

Now I shouldn‘t have started with the bad stuff, I really shouldn’t. Beccause there is alot good about this movie. The character design is great, and the acting good for the most part. The best part in my opinion is a short scene involving Night Owl II (Patrick Wilson) and the original Night Owl. They are sitting in a small, dimly lit apartment talking about their past. It said everything that the big visuals and pop music couldn’t, about the time they lived in. About their feelings about growing extinct, about not being wanted, etc.

Rorschach is a great character as well, although his voice started to grate on me, much in the same way Christian Bale’s Batman voice tends to do. But when the mask comes off, you really feel that this man could do the stuff we have seen him do. While Batman puts on a new character when he puts on the suit, Rorschach’s mask is already his character. And at the end Rorschach has a scene that will knock you out your seats. The look on his face is absolutely heart breaking. If you’ve seen the film you know what I mean.

OVERALL

There’s definitely worse movies out there. I recommend you watch this (if you don’t mind a bit of weirdness, which I like), just because what it does right, it REALLY does right. Just… try to ignore what it does wrong. Don’t get yourself worked up to see a masterpiece. Just try not to think of Watchmen sex next time you hear Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.